ARK: The Red Spire
by PixelsShattered
Summary: After waking up on a mysterious prehistoric island, she's desperate from answers, even if it means fighting through the darkest caves, highest mountains, and strongest foes to get them. The only person that has the answers isn't a person at all, and the only way to contact them is through the sacrifice of eight ancient artifacts, and that's just the easy part. R&R?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Weekend's here, so time to do a thing. Today, ARK: Survival Evolved, which I actually bought on my PC, which is not near beefy enough to actually run it. Of course, I didn't know that until I threw 10 dollars down the hole (Steam Sales FTW) Anyway, I was browsing and realized there aren't really any ARK fics, so why not take May from the 116** **th** **Games (SHAMLESS PLUG: Check that out on my page, it's an ARK-ish Hunger Games and it's pretty good) and drop her into ARK? Maybe I'll bring Tooth back too. Maybe.**

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Everything was black. Then, slowly, a tingly, rough feeling made its way under my back and across the bottom of my arms and legs. Sounds began to appear, the gentle sloshing of waves and the breeze blowing about. I opened my eyes only to see the sun blazing in, and threw my hand up to block the singing light out. I sat up, judging my surroundings, and noticed I was sitting naked on a beach. Before me was a jungle and behind me was an ocean, and I resolved to not journey too far into either. I stood up and stretched, hearing the popping in my sore joints.

How did I get here? Where is "Here?" How do I get home? Where is "Home"? Questions buzzed in my head as I observed the near un-earthly landscape. Birds glided in the sky, clouds lazily floated, helping to dim the sun, and- wait, what was that? It could only be described as big. Big and alien-like, and I was floating in the sky miles away, casting out beacons of green, blue, and purple in all directions.

I hesitated, not quite sure what to do. I decided on build a shelter, since there was an abundance of foliage near me, and it would be night soon if I didn't hurry. Maybe after that, I thought, I could work on making some clothes. I brought my hand up to scratch my shoulder, and noticed an odd diamond-shape stone in my wrist. I tried to pick at it, and felt a searing pain, so I left it alone. It glowed slightly, and I curiously tapped it a few times. A hologram filled my vision, and I saw a grid for my "Inventory" and several tabs for different health statistics and how much weight I was carrying. The first item in my inventory was something called "Human Specimen 207". I stared at it for a second, and a description appeared, saying "Specimen Type: Human. Name: May [REDACTED]. Gender: Female." Nothing I didn't already know. Except the REDACTED part, since I was sure my last name was… was… I racked my brain. Come on, I knew this! My own last name was… damn, what was it?! A mystery for another day, I decided, as I set to work collecting leaves and sticks for a lean-to.

After an hour or two of work, I had successfully erected a sturdy lean-to. I pulled a few long leaves from a bush and tied them around my waist and chest, for my own sanity, I guess, since there wasn't anyone out here who could judge. I gathered a collection of sticks and twigs, before sitting down and pondering how to light the campfire I'd created. I tapped the implant, and the same menu came up, with an additional option. A dialogue box appeared. "Light Fire [Y/N]" I thought " _Yes"_ and the bonfire immediately lit. I scooted back into my shelter and laid down on the thatch bedding I'd made. Uncomfortable, yes, but effective. As the sun finished setting, I could hear various animal cries rise in the distance. I settled in for the night, and let sleep carry me off.

 **A/N: Not quite sure what to say, except to check out my profile if you like writing like this, and that I'll be putting out another chapter before Monday, probably a standard 1,000 word chapter, since today was a half-day half-length 500ish word chapter. Anyway, Pix, out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey, another chapter. First off, though, THANK YOU SOO MUUUCH FOR ALL THE AWESOME SUPPORT GUYS! I honestly didn't think this would hit as well as it did and I'll be putting more time into it from here on out (and actually updating on time).**

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I heard a small shuffling noise in the sandy dirt behind me, near my fire. It was still dark, but I could make out the figure of a small feathery thing idly standing near my shelter. "Shoo!" I whisked my hand at it, and the animal turned to face and made a funny cry of sorts. It reeled back, and before I could realize what was about to happen, it spit a burning mix of whatever into my face and eyes. I tried to stand up, and the thing jumped on my chest and knocked me onto my back. I managed to blindly land a punch on the side of its head and the little beasty fell off, dazed. I took the opportunity to wipe my face and kick the recovering monster, and with that it took off in a dash across the beach into the darkness.

I sat back down and winced, since the adrenaline that I'd been going off during the fight was trickling away, and noted the gashes in my chest and stomach. They didn't seem bad, but they would probably get infected if I didn't do anything about it. My face was stinging badly, so I opened the implant's screen could see a render of myself standing in the middle, with a red face and bloodshot eyes. Nothing looked burnt or appeared to require immediate attention, but I could also see that number totaling my "health" had gone down eleven points. There had to be a way to bring it back up, I figured, and there also had to be a better way to fight those things. I dismissed them as problems for tomorrow, and laid back down to sleep.

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The morning came quickly, and with it, came the beginning of my first full day in this place. The first of quite a few, hopefully, since dying isn't really on my agenda. I pulled up my inventory screen, and my face was looking significantly less red, as well as the gashes healing up rather well overnight. My 'health" total also went up a point, rounding out at 90/100. I closed the screen and rubbed my stomach. The water in the beach was surprisingly _not_ saltwater, and seemed completely drinkable. Unfortunately, I can't say the sand was edible too. Since I'd arrived, the only things I ate were a bunch of berries which all seemed safe (except the black ones. DON'T EAT THE BLACK ONES) and some sort of citrus-y thing that fell out of a tree. Not much of a meal. I decided to get to work, and added sticks and stones to my inventory, as well as some berries and a few mushrooms. After a few hours of work, I sat down and opened up the inventory screen again and looked at the small list of things I could craft. A spear caught my eye, and decided it was worth it to have a weapon. A few materials later, and I had myself a spear. With that, I set out to reinforce my shelter…

 **A/N: Here's an update, late and not where I wasn't it to be. I kinda hit writer's block mid-writing, so hopefully this will suffice until I get through it. Today's been a Finishing Things In My Drafts Folder day, so I also updated the 116** **th** **. Next chapter? Maybe two weeks from now.**


	3. Chapter 3: FINALLY

**A/N: Here we go, finally. Two weeks I said, more than two months it took. Mostly because I've been playing other games but I actually got ARK on my Xbox so I can play it now!**

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Out to reinforce my shelter, I said, and I would be doing just that is a huge storm hadn't come up out of nowhere. Not only was I wandering around blindly as the rain pelted my skin, but I couldn't find my old lean-to or any sign of where I'd been set up.

A few hours later, after the hurricane died down, I stood up and ventured out of the cave entrance I'd been sitting in, and decided to try and find a better place to set up, somewhere possibly more fortified. As I walked the beach, I found the remains of my thatch shelter scattered for hundreds of feet, with a few dodos picking at the remains.

As I gazed down the beach, I noticed a head poking up, a feathered head no less. I assumed it was the little spitter who attacked me the previous night, and went back to digging through the remains of my shelter. As I pulled out the longest in-tact strands and thickest sticks, I heard a little thump in the sand.

Quizzically, I set my pile of supplies down and walked over, only to come face to face with the feathered head, which was obviously not one of the hip-height spitters. The feathered raptor-esque creature and I stood face to face for a moment, before I snapped around and sprinted. The raptor shrieked and began pursuit, closing the distance fast. As I passed my pile of rubble, I snatched a decently thick stick and turned to smack the animal in the face, stunning it momentarily. As I spun back to run again, a flash of red whizzed by my eyes and struck the predator square in the face.

I turned back to see the raptor stumble around for a second before falling to the sand with a red flowery object sticking out of its forehead. As I studied the suddenly unconscious raptor, I heard someone walking up from behind me and glanced over to see what appeared to be a walking bush slinging a rifle over its shoulder.

"Thanks for the shot." He gruffly spoke as he plucked the dart out of the raptor and began digging through his camouflaged backpack. "It's getting late, I'd say it's high time you ran back to your tribe." He suggested as he began nursing a foul-smelling green liquid into the raptor's mouth.

"Tribe? You mean there are other people here? Like, on this island?" I questioned.

"Damn, you just wash up here or something? Far as I know, there's at least a hundred."

"Less than a day ago, actually."

"Well, I'll cut you a deal. You help me drag this Raptor back to base and you can consider yourself an honorary member of our little clan."

"Who's "our"?"

"Two buddies and myself, plus eight or nine raptors and a quetz."

"Wait, how raptors, and what's a quetz?"

"We tamed 'em of course, and as for the quetz, think of it like a really big bird."

"You can actually tame these things?"

"O'course you can, what do you think I'm doing right now?"

"Wow. Y'know what? I'm sold. One condition though, once we get back, you need to teach me about, well, everything."

"Deal."

With that, we lifted the unconscious animal and trudged into the dimming forest. It wasn't long until we reached the little village set up near a hidden lake. He wasn't kidding about the quetz, either, it was the first thing I saw and easily taller than the house it was resting next to, and the setting sun right behind it certainly helped it appear even bigger.

What I was fascinated most by, however, was the looming monolith floating not too far away, maybe only a few hundred meters beyond the cliffs that enclosed the lake. Now that we were closer, I could see red detailing on it, as well as a thin red beam that flowed into the bottom of the floating object.

We lugged the feathered carnivore into a second house with big, swinging wooden doors that looked straight out of a movie. Inside, it was built large and open, with, just as he said, eight or nine raptors lying about, most of which were already asleep. On one wall were three saddles hung neatly in a row, and in the corner was a bin filled with what appeared to be raw meat. We placed the animal down in the approximate center and left.

"He'll wake up around others of his kind, they'll take him in, y'know? Teach him for us. The alpha's pretty loyal, we provide for the guys, but for the most part, it's a mutual relationship more than an ownership. The things come and go as they please, but for the most part, they hang around us." He explained. "Name's Griff, by the way, probably should've started with that." He tacked on.

"May."

"Well May, welcome to the Tribe of the Red Spire."

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 **A/N: Yeah, this has been a LOOOOONG time coming. Frankly, I'm surprised there aren't more ARK stories out here. Luckily, all of them are sooo gooood so at least we have that. Anyway, more frequent updates inbound (probably) and until next time, I've been Pix, thanks for reading!**


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